Mark Nelson

A multifaceted musician with wide-ranging musical interests, Mark Nelson has over 30 years’ experience conducting instrumental and choral ensembles in schools, colleges, and communities. He developed the instrumental-music program at Lake Forest College, led brass, chamber, and new-music ensembles at Wabash College, directed the orchestra at the Webb Schools, and conducted performances of Company, Les Misérables, The Threepenny Opera, and Working at various sites. A devotee of modern and contemporary music as well as early music, he has developed electronic-music programs at diverse educational institutions.

Having moved to the Upper Valley in 2014, Mark has found numerous ways to galvanize the musical life of the community. He is Music Director of several ensembles, including the Upper Valley Community Orchestra, the Upper Valley Community Band, the Lyme Town Band, and Harmony Night Chorus. Mark has unflaggingly diversified and expanded the repertoire of these ensembles while honing the performance ability of each.

He teaches classes in music appreciation, music theory, and composition at the Upper Valley Music Center and through OSHER. Recent seminar topics have included Haydn’s string quartets, Britten’s War Requiem, the Symphony, and great choral masterworks. In addition, for several years Mark has led the Bach Study Group, a group of approximately 50 Upper Valley Bach devotees who meet each week to sing, play, and learn about the master’s cantatas, motets, and Passions.

With degrees from Yale (B.A.), Princeton (Ph.D.), and Harvard (Ed.M.), and having undertaken additional graduate study of Javanese gamelan and South Indian classical music at Wesleyan, Mark is deeply committed to promoting among ensemble members, audiences, and students the joys of musical discovery.